Radio frequency shielded enclosures are used for many purposes, most typically wireless device testing, data security, and forensics investigations. Many types of RF enclosure products exist in the conventional art, the majority of which fall under two product-descriptive categories, hard and soft. RF enclosures in each of these categories have remained relatively consistent, using many of the same types of materials, construction techniques, and even intended purposes. For example, soft enclosures such as faraday bags are conventionally made with fabrics, threads, binding, webbing, hook and loop, and other such materials utilized in the textile industry. These types of RF enclosures may be used for forensic evidence transport, but are very seldom used for forensic evidence lab analysis, which typically requires larger, dimensional, ergonomic enclosures with features suited to the task of analysis. Some of these features required for analysis may be conductive gloves to operate devices, RF filters for passing data and power in and out of the enclosure, power strips to power devices inside of the enclosure, lights, and RF shielded windows to see devices inside and photograph their screens. Some of these features may become damaged over time and require replacement, such as conductive gloves which experience abrasion after heavy usage, resulting in shielding loss and failure of the enclosure. For these reasons, lab forensic analysis or wireless testing has conventionally occurred using hard metal enclosures with replaceable conductive gloves, RF filters mounted through the sides, shielded windows, power strips, and lights.
Although the aforementioned categories of RF enclosures have served their intended purposes in the past, new usage scenarios that cross the lines of conventional usage require enclosures that do the same. For example, forensic examiners may now require RF shielded evidence under examination to stay shielded while new evidence is introduced into the same enclosure. This feature, on majority, has only been available in soft enclosures like faraday tents, but could be applied to desktop-sized enclosures with semi-soft walls. Another example of the requirement for crossing soft and hard RF enclosures relates to the need for portability. Users of lab-style enclosures may need to perform forensic analysis or wireless testing in other environments, and therefore require portable RF enclosures with lab capability. Hard enclosures may be too heavy, bulky, and inconvenient to meet this demand for portability. RF enclosures have seldom satisfied these “mixed requirements” for the reasons mentioned earlier, which have been difficult or impossible to accomplish using the materials and techniques currently available in the market and represented in the prior art.
What is needed is a solution to one of the primary obstacles encountered when mixing hard and soft enclosures. Conductive gloves/hand pockets are a core element of shielded enclosures for forensic analysis, wireless testing, and other similar uses. They are the standard means for allowing devices to be operated and manipulated inside of enclosures. For soft-sided shielded enclosures, the gloves/hand pockets have conventionally been sewn directly into the conductive shielding fabric on the walls of the enclosure, a process with very little or no alternatives. This method of construction may be tedious and expensive to manufacture due to the required precision when sewing and sealing the seams. Furthermore, it can be highly problematic for users. Wear and tear can eventually cause the gloves to lose conductivity and leak signal, rendering the entire enclosure worthless. Without the ability to replace the gloves/hand pockets, the user may be forced to dispose of the entire enclosure or send it to the manufacturer for repair. Both options can represent a significant financial and time loss, especially for users such as military who may be located in foreign countries with no practical ability to send or receive goods, nor the time to spare. Furthermore, some soft-sided enclosures may not even be repairable. Even if the user could send the entire enclosure back for repair, it may be impossible without heavy damage to the product.
Conventional hard-sided shielded enclosures with replaceable gloves may use a means of attaching the gloves to the walls of the enclosure that requires unimpeded access to the main shielding cavity. This means of attachment is the same location where the user may replace the damaged conductive gloves with new ones. Some soft or semisoft-sided enclosures, however, may have shielded main cavities (where the conductive gloves are located) that are difficult to access from the outside. For this reason, a new means of attaching conductive gloves to the main shielded enclosure, that provides access to the connection point from the outside of the enclosure (serviceable from the outside), must be achieved.
In summary, what is needed is a method of connecting conductive gloves/hand pockets to soft-sided or semi-soft-sided shielded enclosures, that is cost-effective and less tedious to manufacture, serviceable from the outside of the enclosure, and facilitates rapid glove replacement by the user.